One Church

"In fact, any need to expose others for what we think they've done wrong shows how far away from God's heart we stand."

THERE'S ONLY one correct doctrine—the Word of God—and it is meant to be revealed to the mind through our relationship with the Spirit. He is our Teacher (John 14:26). He brings all things about Jesus, the Living Word, to our remembrance. He gives wisdom and revelation of the Truth (Ephesians 1:17). Men can read Hebrew and Greek fluently. They can know the history of the Jewish people inside and out. They can quote the Scriptures in complete chapters. But true understanding only comes to the spirit of a man who has the Holy Spirit living within. Salvation opens up all of heaven to us.

There are many doctrines because men continue to seek Truth, and each one shares his discoveries with others. The nature of man is to defend what he knows. God doesn’t want us on the defense. That is not the way of love. Nor does God need defending. But one man defends what he thinks, and another refutes it. The only Truth is in the Spirit, who wrote the Word, and our judgment must be submitted to His. For Jesus to be Lord, we must walk in humility, aware of our nature and shortcomings, and in obedience to what He says to us (Colossians 3:12).

Love must be the center of our learning, our sharing, and our speaking and writing. We must love if someone completely disagrees, and we must love if someone misunderstands and goes public with it. We must refuse to do the same.

God told the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter what they would suffer for the gospel, not because it was His will they suffer, but because He knew it. He knows all things. He told them because they were mature enough to receive it and walk upright, meaning in Jesus’ footsteps, acting as He would act, speaking as He would speak, who died for all men. He did not tell them so that persecution could become a thing, either in the persecutor or the persecuted. Neither us nor them should promote it as what all must go through. Actually, the Word of God promises us favor with God and man when we write Truth and Mercy upon our hearts (Proverbs 3:4). We are to seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:11). This means not being argumentative or inclined to take offense. It means not being critical.

We are all at different levels of growth. These are not meant to be compared, as levels we measure ourselves up against. They are not to form doctrines. Or excuses. In fact, the more we know about Jesus, the more we understand of His Word, the more the Spirit speaks Truth to us and conversations through the gifts, the more meek we should become and the less inclined to say anything about each other. In fact, any need to expose others for what we think they’ve done wrong shows how far away from God’s heart we stand. And this includes those we mention who are outside the church. Much is displayed from some people of their opinions of politicians and government structures that sincere prayer and peace would do far more to solve.

God does not have to argue with anyone. He is God. And now He lives fully in us, but we must take the steps to walk in the Spirit, modeling ourselves after Jesus, who is our example in all forms of behavior. He knew He had to die at the hatred of violent men, who were consumed with themselves and their sins. Not as open and something they recognized. They thought they were in the right, morally and politically. He said nothing to them except to declare Himself the Son of God and display the caring nature of a good and loving Father, who they instantly rejected.

God called out to them to wake up. Hypocrites. Not to insult them, but to cause them to think and ask themselves why this Man was different. For some, it worked. Unfortunately, for others it didn’t. But love is the solution. It is our character, and it forms our ways of reactions. One minister of the gospel said his grandchildren had never seen him angry because he doesn’t get angry. He’s deliberately worked to remove anger from his behavior.

“Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” (Proverbs 10:12)

What if we were all like that? What if we were all in UNITY, doing what was best for each other? Instead of fracturing according to mental errors that cannot be seen in the Word of God, except where the sinful (both men and fallen angels), have degraded to a level of hatred that God never intended them to see, much less to promote. God loves people. He loves His angels, for that matter. He hungers for us to set down our swords of flesh-and-blood and pick up His cross (Matthew 16:24). The weight of it will be enough to settle all our differences and smooth out the gaps we’ve dug between us, where there should only be living water which flows to all, for the benefit of all, and the church our beloved King, rose again to form.

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)
►This was spoken looking toward the cross and the Resurrection where the gates of hell were destroyed. 1 John 3:8. And the devil was destroyed. Hebrews 2:14.

Photo by Hugo Jehanne on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com